Confessions of a Fanfiction Nerd

People have frequently asked (well, maybe twice) how I got into writing. Was it something I had been doing all my life, or did I just one day sit down at a computer and start writing? Well, to be honest, it was a little of both.

As a kid, I used to write and illustrate little books all the time. My favorite was a series called “The Spooks” which obviously was the inspiration for the “Addams Family”. It was just that original. Then, of course, there was the previously mentioned book I wrote in seventh grade about how my entire middle school was captured by Nazis and dug tunnels with spoons. It was over a hundred handwritten pages of hairbreadth escapes, witty adolescent banter, and nonstop adventure. I still have that someplace but sadly, it was never finished. I’m sure it would have made a terrific Nickelodeon movie. As an adult, I wrote a few stories for my then two year old daughter when we spent a summer in Norway and I quickly discovered we had not brought nearly enough books with us. I bought a couple of books in Stavanger, but since they were written in Norwegian, it made reading them aloud a bit difficult. Did help me work on my cheesy Norwegian accent, however.

Beyond that, I didn’t really write much, but in the back of my mind, I knew one day I would write a children’s book. That was my dream. However, I needed to actually write something in order to accomplish that goal. That’s actually a substantial hurdle to get over. What should I write about? Could I even write something like that? Then, my daughter introduced me to the world of fanfiction.

To the uninitiated, fanfiction are stories written by fans of particular books, movies, TV shows, video games, etc. Writers take the characters and settings and create new stories. Now, as a kid, I used to do just that but in my head. I’d take the Star Ship Enterprise on new adventures, create new versions of events in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, or provide new missions for the prisoners of Stalag 13. I had no idea anyone else did that, much less wrote these stories down. I was intrigued and headed to www.fanfiction.net to begin my investigation.  I was immediately hooked. I started reading stories about every show, book or movie I had ever loved.

Some of the stories were actually extremely well written and more than a few were as long as an actual book. Some were obviously written by teenaged girls who wanted to be part of the action and wrote themselves in as a new character (these are often referred to as “Mary Sues”) and sure, when I was 13, I did that too. I was amazed at the number of stories out there. On fanfiction.net there are over 600,000 Harry Potter fictions alone! That doesn’t even include the private websites people have created for their own fanfiction stories.

So, I read and read and read. Then, the little niggling idea got in my head that maybe, just maybe, I could write a fanfiction. I was quite immersed in the whole Lord of the Rings thing going on when the movies came out so that seemed like the most logical starting point. I wrote a short little fiction, just over 8000 words, then took a very deep breath and posted it on the site for others to read. Mind you, when I wrote it, I assumed it was my little secret and would never see the light of day. I mean, writing fanfiction? How dorky is that!?

Then, I got a few reviews. Positive reviews! That was all it took. A monster was born. I began another, much longer LOTR story. This one was 34,000 words and 18 chapters! I had never written anything that long in my life. And the drug that is reader reviews fed my addiction. I wrote four more LOTR stories, the longest over 91,000 words and had over 400 reviews. I knew then I couldn’t stop. I continued writing in other genres: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, NCIS, and yes, Hogan’s Heroes.

  For a long time, I wouldn’t tell anyone I did this, but now, I don’t care! I have fans! People who ask me to write more stories. People who put me and my stories into their Favorites lists! If that’s not worth writing for, what is? And fanfiction isn’t just for nerds anymore.  In case you didn’t know, that infamous Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy started life as a Twilight fanfiction.

As much as I’ve enjoyed writing about old favorites, there was really a very important consequence of this activity. It got me writing. I was able to experiment, work on plot and character development, learn to craft sentences that made sense, evoke emotions, and figure out how to write dialogue. It was like a writer’s workshop. And because I had been doing all this writing, I finally got up the confidence to try writing my children’s story, the one I had always dreamed of writing.

So, here I am today. I just returned the revised manuscript of that first original story to my agent. Hopefully, we will soon move onto the next step of approaching publishers. And for this, I have to thank my love of old TV shows and books!

I would also like to take a moment to thank all of you that signed up to follow my blog. You guys are the greatest and when I’m Rich and Famous, I’ll be sure and wave to you as I drive by in my chauffeur driven Rolls Royce. I know how to treat my friends right! :-)

P.S. If any of you are dying to read some of my fanfiction stories, go to www.fanfiction.net and look for the author, yellowrose. FYI.